Sumer A Sumerian cylinder seal depicting Gilgamesh and Enkidu battling Humababa.
ca. 1400–1300 BCE.

Sumer Neo-Assyrian image of a hero overpowering a lion.
Iron Age

Sumer Cylinder seal showing Gilgamesh and Enkidu killing the forest guardian Humbaba (right three figures).
Mitannian, c. 1400–1300 BCE.

Sumer Sumerian image of Inanna.

Sumer The Standard of Ur (Peace side).
2600 BCE.

Sumer Sumerian farmers and fisherfolk.

Mesopotamia The Etemenanki ziggurat, Babylon.

Mesopotamia Ishtar holding a symbol of leadership.
Terracotta relief, early 2nd millennium BCE. From Eshnunna.

Mesopotamia Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria (669–631 BCE).

Mesopotamia Lion from the Ishtar Gate, Babylon.

Hittite A Hittite sacrifice.

Egypt Egyptian tomb painting of Anubis assisting the dead.

Egypt Nobleman and his wife, Egypt, Old Kingdom.
5th Dynasty, 2494-2345 BCE.

Egypt Colossal statues of Old Kingdom pharaohs at Luxor, capital city of Upper Egypt.

Egypt Seated Statue of Hatshepsut.
ca. 1479–1458 BCE.

Egypt A detail from the throne of Tutankhamun which shows the pharaoh with his wife Ankhsenamun.
ca. 1327 BCE, National Museum, Cairo.

Egypt Depiction of the library at Alexandria (Egypt).

Cyprus Limestone ram-bearer.
6th century BCE, Cyprus. Met Museum.

Canaan Figurine of a Canaanite priest.

Canaan Assyrian relief depicting the deportation of Judeans.
Lachish, 701 BCE.

Canaan A modern rendering of the Jewish god Yahweh.

Persia A Persian rendering of Ahuramazda.

Persia Bearers bringing tribute to the Persian Great King.
Persepolis, 6th century BCE.

India An image of Gautama Buddha.

Greece Gold funeral mask, said to be the death mask of Agamemnon.
Mycenae, 1550–1500 BCE.

Greece Fresco depicting bull-leading from Knossos, Crete.

Greece Minoan fresco of a Lady with the sacral knot at the back of the neck that seems to indicate that she is a priestess or even a goddess.
ca. 1400 BCE. The Herakleion Archaeological Museum, Crete.

Greece Wall paintng of a Mycenaean priest.

Greece Briseis (right) being taken away from Achilles (left).
Pompeiian fresco, 1st century CE.

Greece Attic black-figure band cup depicting farming work.
ca. 430 BCE.

Greece Singer with lyre.
Greek bronze, geometric, 8th century BCE.

Greece Greek figurines depicting food preparation.

Greece Footrace, Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora.
ca. 530 BCE. Attributed to the Euphiletos Painter.

Greece Black figure depiction of hoplite soldiers.
© Tanya Borozenets | Dreamstime.com

Greece Modern statue of King Leonidas at Sparta.

Greece Statue of Lycurgus, Lawgiver of Sparta.
Law Courts of Brussels, Belgium.

Greece Epigraphic stele listing tributes to the Delian League.
439-432 BCE.

Greece Krater depicting a Greek discus thrower.

Greece An orator speaking to the Athenian people.

Greece An Greek leader speaking to the people.

Greece Stoa of Attalos, Athens

Greece A female aulos-player entertains men at a symposium.
Attic red-figure bell-krater, c. 420 BCE.

Greece A depiction of Antigone.

Greece Red-figure cup showing the death of Pentheus, from The Bacchae
ca. 480 BCE.

Greece A modern cartoon depicting Strepsiades burning the Thinkery.
19th century.

Greece A scene from Clouds: “Socrates” making his entrance, descending in a basket.

Greece A modern statue honoring Herodotus.
Vienna, Austria.

Greece Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Acropolis, Athens.

Greece A modern depiction of Orestes pursued by the Furies.
Painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1862.

Greece Hermaic pillar with a female portrait; inscription identifies the subject as the poet Sappho.

Greece “The School of Athens”.
Painting by Raphael, 1509-1511 CE.

Greece Statue of Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet, the aegis and Gorgoneion (detail)
ca. 180­-190 CE.

Greece Ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Greece Laocoön and His Sons.
Hellenistic ca. 1st century CE, recovered 1506 CE.

Macedon Philip II, king of Makedon, detail of a medallion.

Macedon Bust of Alexander III, king of Makedon and Asia. Found in the Roman Capital.

Rome A relief presentation of the Italian peninsula.

Rome Detail of Aeneas or Numa from the Ara Pacis in Rome.
Ara Pacis, 13 CE.

Rome A modern depiction of the Rape of Lucretia.
Painting by Titian, 1571.

Rome The Apollo of Veii.

Rome A modern depiction of Cincinnatus being called from his plow to serve as dictator.

Rome A Roman fresco depicting youths playing a ball game.

Rome Roman cuirass and equipment.

Rome A colorized bust of Hannibal Barca.

Rome A patrician Roman with masks of his ancestors.

Rome Images of priests and senators on the side of the Ara Pacis.
Ara Pacis, 13 CE.

Rome Part of a family group from a Roman sarcophagus.

Rome Statue of an unknown young Roman.

Rome Head of a Vestal Virgin.
Sculpture by Antonio Canova (1821 to 1822). Neoclassical, marble.

Rome Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus.

Rome A bust of Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
1st century BCE.

Rome A statue of Julius Caesar in Turin.

Rome Bust of Julius Caesar.

Rome Marcus Porcius Cato (known as Cato the Younger).

Rome A senator speaking to the Roman senate.
Rome, HBO 2005.

Rome Coins depicting Antony and Octavian as triumvirs (III VIR).

Rome Statue of emperor Augustus.
Velletri, 1st century CE.

Rome Statue of Augustus.

Rome The dome interior of the Pantheon, Rome.

Rome Frieze of Agrippina crowning her young son Nero with a laurel wreath.
Aphrodisias, 54-59 CE.

Rome The emperor Caligula, on film and as a Roman bust.

Rome Slave woman from a Pompeii Fresco.
House of Punished Love VII, 2, 23, 1st century CE.

Rome A fresco of a Romano-Italian woman with a stylus and a wax tablet.
Pompeii, 79 CE.

Rome An animal being led to sacrifice at an altar.

Rome Marcus Aurelius conducting an animal sacrifice.

Rome Bronze rendering of the emperor Marcus Aurelius leading a sacrifice.

Rome Roman scribe shown with his stylus and wax tablets.
Tomb stele at Flavia Solva, Noricum.

Rome Defeat of Roman emperor Valerian (r. 253-260 CE) by the Persian king Shapur.
A sardonyx cameo, ca. 260 CE. Cabinet des Médailles, National Library, Paris.

Rome Modern bronze statue of Constantine the Great looking down upon his broken sword, which forms the shape of a cross.
York, 1998.

Rome Early Christian image of Jesus’s crucifixion.

Etruria Etruscan cinerary urn featuring a content old woman reclining holding a pomegranate.
300-100 BCE